Sunday, March 31, 2024
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Friday, March 29, 2024
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Friday, March 22, 2024
Thursday, March 21, 2024
I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. (Zech. 12:10)
BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. (Rev. 1:7)
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Some argue that certain passages in the New Testament suggest Jesus redefined "the kingdom of God" to be something "within you" or something that "comes upon you".
However, there is strong evidence to *not* read these few texts in that manner.
Jesus didn't redefine anything. - Josh Hawkins
However, there is strong evidence to *not* read these few texts in that manner.
Jesus didn't redefine anything. - Josh Hawkins
Monday, March 18, 2024
Sunday, March 17, 2024
“It can be difficult for Christians to accept that Jesus was not a Christian like them but, unlike them, was Jewish and deeply absorbed in a set of beliefs and practices that are unfamiliar to contemporary Christians.
Christianity as we know it today did not exist at the time of the New Testament. There were those who had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel, but Christianity as a religion distinct from Judaism only emerged centuries later.” - Matthias Henze
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Friday, March 15, 2024
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Monday, March 11, 2024
To understand biblical eschatology, we need to move beyond the categories of modern Christian thought and think in terms of the motifs, symbols, and narratives that informed the eschatological worldview of Jesus himself, as a first-century Jewish man living in the Land of Israel.
And like many Jewish people in his day, when Jesus was thinking of the end of this age and the establishment of God's kingdom, at the forefront of his mind was the original Passover story.
-Travis M. Snow
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Saturday, March 09, 2024
Friday, March 08, 2024
Thursday, March 07, 2024
Wednesday, March 06, 2024
Tuesday, March 05, 2024
Christ came (sacrificially), and he will come again (apocalyptically). This is what Paul meant when he proclaimed to Jew and Gentile alike, “ Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age” (Gal 1:4).
From “ Extending Mercy to the Gentiles” - John P. Harrigan
Monday, March 04, 2024
Sunday, March 03, 2024
There is no getting around the necessity of the local church or the necessity of leadership in the local church. The Bible itself prescribes them. But it also defines them, and not everything that calls itself Christian leadership in the church is the genuine article.
Therefore, do not follow a man (or a team of leaders) merely because he has gifting, zeal, charisma, or vision-casting abilities.
The rubric for knowing if a man should be shepherding the flock is simple: sound doctrine and a godly life. These are not ambiguous, ethereal or subjective things. They are what 1 Tim. 3 and Titus 1 (among other texts) spell out. If a church is healthy, there will be ample opportunities for these characteristics to be seen in the life of a prospective or appointed leader.
Such was the case with Paul: "You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake." (1 Thess. 1.5b)
If a man can't be known in these ways, if he's a "green room personality," if no one knows him apart from an inner-circle of yes-men; if you cannot see that his doctrine is sound, and that, imperfect as he is, he is trustworthy and godly, he should not be leading the church/ministry, nor should you partner with, affirm, or regard him a leader.
If he and his ministry are so large and move so quickly that none of his co-leaders or congregants have a finger on the pulse of his marriage, his parenting, his personal holiness, his encouragement/discouragement levels, his interactions with the saints, and he cannot be known as a brother, he is already in the danger zone. If he himself is not "a man under authority," (e.g. the authority of the Word, the authority of the local church), then he bears no authority from God himself. Period.
An elder/pastor must remain a brother amongst brothers, though he be a father to many. He must remain a sheep amongst the sheep, though he be a shepherd. The want of this reality has been the seedbed of many a scandal and the cause of a host of moral maladies which belittle the name of God in our cities. Lord, help us! We must return to the main and plain of Scripture when it comes to the fellowship of the saints, and the way in which churches are to be led.
This is fundamental and clear, but the excitement produced (and the selfish-ambition that is titillated) by certain men and their churches/organizations often dupes sincere believers into following them, even to tragic ends.
These matters are not just ecclesiological preferences, saints. They are matters of life and death for many, matters that pertain to God's very glory, and matters that affect the Church, "which He purchased with His own blood."
As always, brothers and sisters, let holy Scripture (and all of holy Scripture) be your authority and guide. The Good Shepherd speaks clearly, kindly, and commandingly in its pages. - BA Purtle
Saturday, March 02, 2024
Friday, March 01, 2024
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- Taken in its first century Jewish apocalyptic cont...
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